kids, fake smiles, bribes, and threats make for some great family pictures

so, how often does your family do family pictures? every couple of years, right? we didn't used to do family pictures and now we do them several times a year. not joking. seriously. here is yet ANOTHER family picture, at least this one is formal, and we're not wearing the same thing we wore for the last picture. so for your enjoyment i've put this one on here too. lots of kids, lots of fake smiles, lots of bribes, and lots of threats created these wonderful pictures.

so, not sure which one i like better...actually probably neither of them. one day we'll have perfected who needs to wear what color and where they need to stand. just on a sidenote, i ALWAYS have to wear my 3 inch shoes so you can see me in the picture.

yes, 13 grandchildren. tried several poses before deciding on just letting them sit on the floor. not one picture has all of them looking at the camera at the same time. i feel bad for my aunt joy who takes the pictures. it's a little nerve-racking.

new thanksgiving tradition

so...our new WONDERFUL thanksgiving tradition...going to go see a movie in the middle of the afternoon on thanksgiving day! seriously. the whole place was like empty. we decided that it would be a great idea, since we don't eat until like 4:30, to go see a movie to pass some time. and since i'm a genius, yes, yes i am, i decided to go at like 1:30. it was the best time EVER! matt, em, me, carrie, ruth, maggie, robbie, samantha, and sibrina decided to go see new moon. now, i'm sure that matt and rob didn't want to see it, but they definitely didn't want to finish setting up the tables and everything, so along they came.

so all of us siblings who went to the movie...

rob, me, em, rotten, and maggie
just us girls...and maggie

matt and rob...don't they look so excited to be there?

sibrina, samantha, ruth, rotten, me, and mags waiting
for the movie to start



rotten's really excited to see this movie...
and i'm not

there is one good thing about eating dinner so late in the day, we have the whole movie theater to ourselves! so, i do suggest thinking about changing your turkey day eating time and go to a movie instead! plus...they gave me a free refill on my diet coke (no, they don't have diet pepsi sadly) so i was really happy.

now my movie review...i do like the books, i'll start with that. i started reading them before they were so popular and i did like them. as soon as i heard they were making movies i knew that was the end. books are ALWAYS better than the movie, ALWAYS! i have never seen a movie, where i read the book, which was better. anyway, the movie's are all that horrible. i mean, the actors ARE awful. i definitely would not have picked those actors to save my life. they really don't have any chemistry together. it always looks awkward...yes, i know that some parts are supposed to look awkward, but not the whole dang thing. i will give that new moon was MUCH better than twilight. it was. i'm not so sure how eclipse is going to be. i didn't really like the third book at all, nothing really happens. (i just re-read the third and fourth book today, so yes, i do know what i'm talking about). i'll probably see it right before the fourth movie comes out, just so i know where they left off. so, overall, not a horrible movie, but not HALF as good as the book.

sidenote...i heard on the radio that they are thinking about having stephanie do a movie with just nessie in it. no book, but just to finish things off. and who are they going to try to get to play her?? yup, taylor swift. not a bad idea, she does look the part if you dye her hair brown. think about it. not a horrific idea. i guess we'll see what happens. i don't know why stephanie wouldn't do it...she'll make tons of money.

so happy thanksgiving and bring on the christmas lights and trees and colors and music and cards and candy canes and decorations and lights. (i seriously can't get enough of the lights they just make me happy when i'm driving home at night and all the house are lit up). bring. it. on.

thanksgiving crafts

hee hee hee look how cute i am! yes, it is a saturday night, and yes, i am a single girl, but i am so bored! so i decided to make a cute little turkey...well actually i made two! but this one says "happy thanksgiving" on it so it's cuter. and if you look closely at this picture you'll notice i have some of my favorite things in it...diet pepsi, my laptop, my bed, and construction paper! don't worry, i'll be back and post more crafts if i can hone my craft-making skills to create more cute things!

birthday

so, yes, i turned 26. it's not THAT old right? so i'm in my mid-twenties. i think it's a good age. no one can be like, "oh, don't mind her, she's only 25!" ha ha ha i do that with 18-year-olds. but that's probably because they are STUPID. common sense. i digress. so for my birthday we went to tocanous. it was quite good, if i do say so myself. with our passion for the office still going strong, em and matt gave me a dwight bobblehead. if you watch the office you know that dwight is HILARIOUS! also, i am quite dedicated. i have changed my ringtone to the theme song and my text message alert says, "bears, beets, battlestar galatica."

the one funny thing that happened was someone at work (a guy) asked me if i was married. i said no and that i was too young to get married (if you know anything about me, i believe that people get married too young. it's stupid and lacks common sense.) he asked me how old i was and i told him that i was just about to turn 26. he's like, "oh, that's not too young. aren't you getting old?" um, in the nicest way possible i told him no, i wasn't too old and that people who get married young are stupid. i'm sure that i said it in a nicer way, but i can't be absolutely sure. so, in answer to your unasked question, no i'm not getting married anytime soon.

but i had a great birthday thanks to my dwight bobblehead. i was going to take him to work, but no one at work appreciates the office, so it would be useless. also em's kids colored me very cute pictures and hung them on my wall for when i got home from work. i even got two schute bucks. yeah. i'm awesome.

nightmare

well friends...it's come down to the point where i have to take another stupid, standardized test...yup, the GRE!! (gasp!) i know, it's pretty much the worst thing. so i bought a little GRE book to tell me all the little secrets to doing well on it. so, i've been trying to study and hide (somewhere in my head) that i don't do well on tests, let alone standardized tests, or in small, confined areas with other people for long periods of time, or long tests (F-O-U-R hours!)!!

so, i'm a tad bit stressed studying for this test. i haven't heard a SINGLE good thing about this test. not one. so, i've been locked in my room (wait, i'm always in my room) with some of my favorite things to console (?) me from the studying i have to do. wonderful diet pepesi, lemonheads, and air conditioning. well actually, a/c is always my friend especially because it's supposed to be 101 degrees today.

and i kinda just think this penguin is kinda cute with his little toolbelt. hopefully no one has to fix my a/c and it will just run PERFECTLY! well, back to studying (or procrastinating) i haven't decided yet.

oh yeah, it's in two weeks from YESTERDAY!

oakley rodeo!

so this year, like the past several years, i've gone up with shel to her cabin in oakley. now, i know that a rodeo doesn't sound like much fun, but seriously it is AMAZINGLY fun! and i think that other people think it's fun too, since it's sold out every year. duh. the only unhappy part about the rodeo is when they do the little baby calf roping. they rope the little baby calf by the neck, which totally swings them around, and to any human it would completely break their neck, and then they rope their back legs, until they fall over. yup, we don't watch that part. we cheer for the little calf when it gets away!!! so this is one of the first pictures i took. i can handle guys trying to stay on the horses. it's hilarious when they get off...well not for the rider...or i guess the horse...but it's hilarious for us when the horse tries to run over the rider.

jake really took this picture as if you couldn't guess. he's completely in the middle of this and only half my face is in it! (but i do have to say that MAN my teeth look white! yeay for jules introducing me to teeth whitening!)

shel took this picture and i do have to say that it is a little bit better than jake's picture. it's a little shaky, i'm not quite sure how that happens.

we had a fun-filled day of running around the valley going to go pick up a bouncy-house thing from jake's parents and then heading up to park city to stop because i REALLY had to pee (yes you did all want to know that). then up to the cabin to help with the preparations and bounce in the bouncy house. then for our break (usually this would be naptime) we decided to watch a movie. twilight. now i haven't seen it and i really decided that i didn't want to see it because i really enjoyed the books. all i have to say about that is WHO THE CRAP CASTED THIS MOVIE? seriously. the actors were nothing like they were supposed to be. their descriptions in the book were quite clear and it was nothing like the book. i was a little upset. but i did want to go back and read the books again, which i'll probably do, at work, when i have nothing to do.

so, another great 4th of july and a horrible casting experience.

memorial weekend!

Robbie wanted to get a picture with a buffalo and seriously look how close this one is!
me and em waiting for the geyser to go off...i guess it's not as faithful as it used to be! trying to keep several children entertained waiting for it to go off was the real amazing thing!

me and mel in west yellowstone outside our hotel and the bear and wolf center...i would not want a bear to get anywhere near me if he was that big! look at him!
mel and jenna across from our hotel (you can see it right there) there were a bunch of these buffalo that were painted and were going to be sold later this year. they were awesome!

melly, jessica, jenna, me and james (hiding under the sign)
it was so fun to go up to yellowstone! it's been years since we went...i think like 11 (i believe that robbie was 1) for a richardson family reunion. this drive of course was faster because i was driving!! ha ha ha everyone knows i drive faster! we stayed in west yellowstone which is basically this poedunk (how do you spell that) right on the entrance. it's worse than an idaho tiny little town!! but we got to see the bears and wolves which were awesome and i think i have more pictures of them than anything else. also because em had my camera the whole time!

there were several wolves there at the center grey and white ones but they mostly sat around and did NOTHING! seriously...do something! it's not every day that i get to come and visit them!
this was a HuGe bear! now i still think that they didn't look as big as i thought they would. but i guess if it was chasing me in the middle of the woods, i'd yell screaming and crying and run away. yup, that's what i'd do! robbie and matthew went to hid the food in the area (yes the bears were out) and then they let the other bears in to find the food. now this would have been quite interesting except the bears weren't very excited and the STUPID NASTY UGLY ravens kept stealing all the food. i just wanted to find a beebee gun and shoot them. i'm sure that it's illegal but dang are they obnoxious! look at this bear. she wasn't as big but she was more interesting than the big bear that just mosied around and did nothing!

oh here's another wolf he moved around a little big and there are fish in that pond so i was hoping that he's try and catch one...but alas no, just took a drink and then went back to laying down! B-O-R-I-N-G!
overall it was a good trip. i didn't get pulled over at all and i sped the whole way (wait...when do i not speed? oh yeah...never.) wait wait i have to tell the truth as some points in the park we did go UNDER the speed limit, i know i gasped myself!